Sorry for the super sporadic posting. Still in the process of moving and everything. I am giving updates on my Mastodon and !stamets@lemmy.world if anyone is interested but there's really no reason to be.
Hope everyone has a fantastic Friday. Live long and prosper, you glorious bastards.
TIL not everyone uses a duvet (also TIL that that thing's called a duvet). That's really surprising to me, so some people just use the blanket directly? What do you do when it gets dirty, they're really hard to wash?
As posted further down, here's my understanding:
A duvet is hard to wash, but a blanket is about the same as a duvet cover, it's just thicker and thus takes up more space in the washing machine. My washing machine does a good job of spinning out the water, so it doesn't take forever to dry.
Aussie English is almost the same, just replace duvet with doona
I live in a cold bit of Australia and we use doonas with doona covers and an optional top sheet
We nearly never wash the doona, just the cover and the sheets
A duvet by definition is down. Duvet is the French word for down. Though I'm sure most people don't realize this and use duvet to refer to just about anything blanketlike.
it's only a duvet if it comes from the Duvet region of France, otherwise it's just a sparkling blanket
Oh I wanted to make that joke :(
No, people use "duvet" specifically to refer to the blanket-like things that go inside duvet covers. Sometimes those are filled with down, but many types of filling are used these days. Back when the word "duvet" originated, down was probably the only filling used, but now that we have alternatives, it makes sense that the word "duvet" is still used to refer to non-down alternatively-filled blanket-like things, because language evolves.
I think you mean a duvet cover, a duvet is a thick (cotton or down filled) blanket. Also called a comforter or quilt in America.
I find it absolutely insane that someone would use a duvet without a duvet cover.. I change my duvet cover once or twice a week, can't imagine these people are washing their entire duvets once a week.
So I shower, put on clean pajamas washed every 1-2 days, comforter is separated by blanket or sheet depending on temp, most of the year it's just a sheet anyway, blankets and sheets get washed 1-2 times a week and comforter maybe once a month, maybe that's gross but without surveying a bunch of Americans I'd say that's pretty common. I don't really see how it's gonna get but so dirty with 3 layers of fabric between me and it.
So, your pajamas and your sheet or blanket function as a duvet cover. That seems perfectly fine, albeit quite a complicated way to do it compared to just a duvet cover.
Pajamas and sheets
Uh...
Complicated?
Quite complicated?
Are we talking about the same thing when we say "pajamas and sheets" or does that mean something different like 'boot' or ' fanny'?
That entire comment is a paragraph to explain washing pajamas and sheets and how shit is layered between the skin and the duvet.
That's more complicated than there just being a duvet cover.
What if you want to sleep without the pajamas one day? We've lost an entire layer of separation from the duvet now, it'll be pandemonium!
(I'm mostly kidding, it just sounds more complicated than it is the way it was written)
Sounds like a duvet cover would simplify that setup a lot tho.
Yep, I got that mixed up, thanks.
No they're definitely talking about duvets themselves
And I'm pretty sure by blanket they mean blanket
This has been a mildly confusing conversation to read.
I guess there's a difference between blankets and comforters, but other than usage, I'm not sure I could define it.
However ... If you showed one of either to me, I'm pretty sure I could identify which it was. Weird.
I think it's pretty simple:
Thank you for the clarification!
Perhaps it's regional? Or even generational? I'm pretty sure I've never heard anyone say "duvet" in real life. I've heard "comforter" many times in real life. The item described has never included a (removable, anyway; I inferred that from your descriptions) cover.
I did once accidentally buy a duvet cover on Amazon after learning the term "duvet" on Reddit and was very disappointed to learn that it provided no warming benefits.
ETA: After reading your other comments, I think what is a comforter to me would probably be just a (perhaps thick / heavy) blanket to you.
I think generally a comforter doesn't have a removable duvet, so it would need to be washed on its own, but I've heard duvet + cover called "comforter" quite a bit.
I see a blanket like this:
A comforter like this:
A duvet is this:
And you would wrap the duvet in a cover, with whatever pattern you like. You'd probably have a few duvet covers, but only one duvet for a given bed.
Those are reasonable. Based on your pictures, I would not differentiate between a comforter and duvet; and would use what you describe as a duvet without a cover. I would just wash the item on its own.
Maybe the biggest difference is that comforters come in many colors and patterns, whereas duvets typically only come in white, and you customize the colors and patterns with the duvet cover. Functionally though, a comforter and a duvet are the same things.
That makes sense, but I was previously unaware. Thanks!
Seems like a duvet cover is often called just a duvet in parts of the US, while a duvet is called a comforter.
There's so many types of duvets here in Norway where I live, there's summer duvets, winter duvets, extra warm duvets, light duvets, heavy duvets, lumpy duvets.... Etc
Sounds like it's regional, then. The clarification is appreciated.
It's pretty convenient when it's a bit shy of getting too hot, but a bedsheet would perform the same in those conditions
I can't speak for other duvet covers, but the one I got was essentially just a wrapper for what I would consider a comforter. It had a zipper on one end and was very thin. It wouldn't be impossible to use as a blanket, comforter or duvet, but I don't think that was the intended use.
Seems like this is a regional thing, a duvet is a duvet in europe, a down/cotton filled blanket. (obviously with the language variations that come with europe, like here in Norway a duvet = dyne) A duvet cover is, a cover for it.
Meanwhile in parts of the US they call duvet covers just duvet, and duvets comforters.
Decke - a blanket.
Bettdecke - one intended for a bed.
Bettbezug - bags you put pillow and blanket in.
Bettlaken - sheet you put on the mattress. Generally sold separately because any pillow and blanket fits on any size mattress.
Having mattress or any part of the pillow or blanket exposed is completely unheard of in Germany, so is two people not having their individual blankets, it's just an unnecessary point of contention. I mean you can come and snuggle up but if you're stealing mine I'm stealing yours and we're even.
The French, OTOH, seem to be big on the two sheets and exposed blanket thing. Utterly impractical to the point that there's no German word for it.
Oh, while I'm at it: Linen. Get yourself linen stuff. Expensive, yes, but the moisture regulation is out of this world.
I was also gonna ask why you couldn't just put your weighted blanket in a cover, only to realize that I don't know the right words in English. Also weird that people just don't use covers for their blankets, but if you're not happy with the color of your blanket, that would be a good reason to start using one.
Just use whatever word makes sense to you. That's what us native speakers do most of the time.
Not all blankets are difficult to wash. Mine just goes in the washer with the rest of the linens.
I have my weighted blanket on top of my normal duvet, in summer I just have a sheet and the weighted blanket on top